{"id":515048,"date":"2026-07-08T01:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/515048\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T01:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:57:15","slug":"jay-aranui-sentenced-for-the-manslaughter-of-napier-man-andy-winitana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/515048\/","title":{"rendered":"Jay Aranui sentenced for the manslaughter of Napier man Andy Winitana"},"content":{"rendered":"

He hit his head, causing a catastrophic and fatal brain injury. He died in hospital with his loved ones present after his life support was turned off two days later.<\/p>\n

Aranui later told police he was under the influence of alcohol and felt like a fight when he dealt the fatal blow. <\/p>\n

Today in the High Court<\/a> at Napier<\/a>, Winitana\u2019s family and friends confronted his killer and told him about the \u201cgaping hole\u201d his death had left in their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow strong did you feel when you threw that coward\u2019s punch?\u201d Winitana\u2019s partner, Toni Walker, asked Aranui.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow does it feel to know you were the last person to have a conversation with Anaru, and then you cowardly finished it off with something so senseless that it killed him?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so close to getting into the Uber and coming home. That\u2019s all he wanted to do, and you stopped that from happening …<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality that he is no longer here follows me everywhere. No more phone calls, no more texts, and no more future that includes him,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no reprieve from it. The tears still flow and I am tired and overwhelmed every day, like there is a constant veil over me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no rest. \u2018Life goes on,\u2019 they say, but at what cost? Life goes on but without a father, a brother, an uncle, a friend, without a son and a soul mate. <\/p>\n

\u201cLife goes on and somehow we\u2019re supposed to keep up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aranui pleaded guilty to manslaughter two months after Winitana died.<\/p>\n

Justice Paul Radich today sent him to prison for three years and seven months.<\/p>\n

He also issued him with a first-strike warning, which will reduce Aranui\u2019s options for parole for any further serious offending in the future. <\/p>\n

Aranui\u2019s counsel, Scott Jefferson, said his client wanted to stress his \u201ccomplete acknowledgment\u201d of the damage he had caused, through \u201cdistorted allegiance and intoxication\u201d.<\/p>\n

Violence was over colour of shirt<\/p>\n

When he walked up to Winitana, 46, the Mongrel Mob-aligned Aranui asked if his victim\u2019s light blue polo shirt meant he was associated with the Black Power gang, whose colour is blue.<\/p>\n

The shirt had nothing to do with any gang. <\/p>\n

Winitana was a businessman and father whom Justice Radich said \u201ctruly cared about others\u201d. <\/p>\n

He was the managing director of two companies, iScaffold Aotearoa and the construction firm Whakamana. <\/p>\n

He was known for volunteering his time to help people in prison and had been known to give them jobs on release. <\/p>\n

Earlier on the night he killed Winitana, Aranui had been denied entry to a waterfront bar and was hanging around the wharf area of Napier\u2019s West Quay hospitality area.<\/p>\n

He had been aggressive towards the bouncers and was showing Mongrel Mob signs and mouthing gang slogans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He walked over to Winitana, who was sitting on a bollard waiting for the Uber.<\/p>\n

They talked together for about three minutes and, according to CCTV footage, both appeared calm. At times, Winitana was laughing.<\/p>\n

Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker said Winitana was a friendly man who, in his final conversation, was probably trying to persuade Aranui about the futility of violence over gang colours.<\/p>\n

The CCTV footage showed that after about three minutes, Aranui drew his right arm back and threw the full-force punch to Winitana\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

\"AndyAndy Winitana died following an assault on a night out in Ahuriri, Napier. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Killer\u2019s police interview<\/p>\n

Aranui\u2019s account of what happened was recorded in a police interview conducted on the following afternoon.<\/p>\n

He told police he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time and in \u201chappy-as mode\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just like, I was around so much people that wanted to fight, it was like I ended up just wanting to fight,\u201d Aranui told the police.<\/p>\n

Aranui said his victim was not aggressive and \u201clooked like a good fella\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just once I said, \u2018F*** you, I\u2019ll just knock you out and smash you\u2019,\u201d Aranui told police.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really mean that. I didn\u2019t really think I was gonna do that when I said that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aranui said Winitana \u201cgot in my face\u201d but added: \u201cWell, I don\u2019t f***ing blame him. I was f***ing talking s***\u201d.<\/p>\n

Caring, compassionate, willing to help<\/p>\n

Winitana\u2019s sister, Paulani Winitana, said her brother was one of the most beautiful people and had the biggest heart of anyone she had met. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was kind, caring, compassionate and always willing to help others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the type of person who made people feel loved and valued.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis loss has left a hole in our lives that can never be filled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bibiana Walker, Winitana\u2019s ex-wife and the mother of their four children together, said watching them grieve had been heartbreaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can love my children fiercely but I cannot be Andy. I cannot fill the space he held in their lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis death has left a gaping hole in our wh\u0101nau and our children now have to grow up without their dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME\u2019s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke\u2019s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He hit his head, causing a catastrophic and fatal brain injury. He died in hospital with his loved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[255805,18214,181192,3390,2082,12632,71,1345,46346,8526,5158,15035,3607,111,43,139,69,1118,5502,5161,2249,255806,223,9863,151735,102,6730],"class_list":["post-515048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-1251am","tag-andy","tag-aranui","tag-best","tag-for","tag-friend","tag-from","tag-home","tag-jay","tag-latenight","tag-man","tag-manslaughter","tag-napier","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-partner","tag-sentenced","tag-soon","tag-texted","tag-the","tag-visit","tag-winitana","tag-with","tag-would"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}